Officials said the Belgian presidency would attempt to “thrash out” an accord on the controversial plan after Stockholm managed to avoid an embarrassing meltdown at a meeting of single market ministers last week.

Plans to set up the scheme by the end of this year hit rocky ground despite being heralded at last year’s Lisbon summit as a way to encourage innovation.

Under the proposed scheme, firms would be able to get pan-EU patent protection for their inventions through a single low-cost application to the Munich-based European Patent Office. This currently only provides EU protection via a cumbersome system of individual national patents – which can be overturned by member state courts.

It is hoped that the EU patent, proposed by Single Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein, would provide a simple one-stop shop in Munich for innovative firms and cut their costs.

But some member states still want to retain a greater role for their national patent authorities.

And several, led by Germany, object to handing over legal oversight to tribunals linked to the European Court of Justice.

Meanwhile, Spain, Portugal and Italy want the new pan-EU patents to be issued in all Union languages – despite claims that this would add to the cost of running the scheme.

Jérôme Chauvin, patent expert for EU business lobby UNICE, said industry was relieved the plan did not die during the Swedish presidency. However he added that firms would not give their blind support to any compromise which emerges during the next round of talks. “We don’t want a white elephant,” Chauvin said. “It is our role to remind member states what the real objective of the community patent is.”